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Paper: Brown Dwarf Like Behaviors of Jupiter
Volume: 362, The Seventh Pacific Rim Conference on Stellar Astrophysics
Page: 310
Authors: Ghosh, K.
Abstract: Jupiter is by far the most massive object in our solar system after the Sun having mass of about 10−3 MSolar, MSolar being the mass of the Sun. Its density is significantly lower than that of the inner planets; just 1.3 g cm−3 while the densities of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are respectively 5.4, 5.3, 5.5 and 3.9 g cm−3. Jupiter radiates more energy into space than it receives from the Sun. It is proposed that the interior of Jupiter has excess energy stored since the time of its collapse. The heat is also generated by the Kelvin-Helmholtz mechanism, the slow gravitational compression of the configuration. This heat within Jupiter contributes to the unusual motion in the internal rotation in Jupiter. Motions in the interior of Jupiter contribute in a very special way to the development of the powerful and extensive magnetosphere of Jupiter. These observations indicate that the composition of Jupiter is basically different from that of the inner planets and these properties of Jupiter are significantly similar to the features of rotating brown dwarfs under the consideration of magnetic field which are thought to be objects having mass between stars and planets. The stellar bodies with mass less than the lower mass limit of the main sequence become completely degenerate as a consequence of gravitational contraction and consequently they cannot go through normal stellar evolution. Primarily they were named ‘Black Dwarf.’ The modern term for these objects is ‘Brown Dwarf.’ In their young age (< 108 years) they contract rapidly and the gravitational binding energy released makes them quite luminous, but as they age they cool rapidly and make them harder to detect. Calculations show a significant similarity in this paper between the presently observed configuration of Jupiter with that of the model brown dwarf under the consideration of internal rotation and magnetic field with mass, composition and age same that of Jupiter which leads to to a conclusion that Jupiter may be considered as a brown dwarf like object in the solar system.
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